Dedication

I "helped" install 83 wells this year! (I don't do the installations, i drive to the wells) What a blessing! In Tanzania the villages seem to be larger and the need for multiple wells is great. Many times on the way to the well we were to install we would pass one that had been installed in previous years and a couple that were put in by Team 1. I love seeing past wells that are still being used!

As we dedicate the well to the glory of God, there is clapping and ululations. Sometimes I have to start these (though not often) and other times someone from the village gets onto them. We begin with a prayer by a church person usually from the village. As it is in Swahili I pray on my own for the village, the women who don't have so far to walk anymore, the children who won't get sick as often, the water that it blesses all who use it, and the other volunteers and MMM workers who are working all over Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, traveling over "roads"and paths to the remote places.

Then Woody or I talk about the well: how Christians in America heard about their need for clean water and wanted to help. That they donated money to finish the well built by the villagers. That the well represents the love of God and it is written on the top to be remembered and used as a reminder to pray and give God the glory for all the blessings in our lives. We speak of the ownership of the well, that it does not belong to me, or to MMM but to the village (I try to instigated some cheering here). And with that ownership comes the responsibility to take care of the well and the water beneath it by keeping the area clean and the animals away from it. By keeping up with the maintenance plan and calling the maintenance man promptly if it breaks. We ask that they share with others what they have seen and heard about the well and about the goodness of God. Time is given to them to add words. Many thanks are proffered to God, to MMM, to us, to the donors back in America. They tell us that this well is very needed and please can we help their neighbors with this blessing. They assure us that they will take care of the well (and some start lecturing their fellow villagers right away). Their thanks are often prefaced with, " we have no words." And the gifts we were given (chickens, bananas, ground nuts, and onions) with "we have no gift." They feel the inadequacy of trying to repay one of God's blessings. But the lights shining in their eyes and the smiles in their lips are more than enough for me.

If it is a new village, a demonstration on correct usage of the well follows and then we make our way back to the truck to head to the next miracle!